Page 118 of The Billionaire's Virgin

Chapter Thirty-Four

Taylor

When I was seven, my mother decided that I wasn’t as in touch with nature as I should be. Of course, she had an ulterior motive, but at the time I had no idea. All I heard was that she was taking me to this big park by the lake where people had picnics and went for hikes and things. All I heard was that she wanted to spend some time with me.

When we got there, it turned out that there was this park ranger who my mother was interested in. He was tall and blond and muscled in a way that made me think he would rip his shirt if he bent the wrong way. I sat on the side and watched my mother talk to him. Even at the age of seven, I could tell that she was acting strangely. She was not being herself. She was smiling a lot, laughing way too much, and flipping her head for no apparent reason.

I noticed how much time she had taken with her appearance too. She had worn tight high-waisted jeans and a crop top that showed off her midsection. She had put on a lot of makeup too, and she had brushed out her hair so that there were big wavy curls falling all over her shoulders. I remembered thinking how much prettier she looked without any makeup at all.

At first, the park ranger didn’t pay any attention to me. I sat silently in the corner by a tree for as long as I could, and then finally I approached them and tugged on my mother’s hand.

She looked down at me, and I saw a flicker of annoyance pass through her eyes. “Taylor,” she said. “I thought I told you to go and play.”

“Play?” I had repeated. “Play what?”

“Whatever you want.”

“With who?” I asked, looking around.

“There are kids all over… pick one and go make friends,” Mom had replied.

When she looked back at the park ranger, he raised his eyebrows. “Who is this?” he asked.

“Oh… this is Taylor,” Mom replied reluctantly.

I found it odd at the time that she hadn’t told him who I was. I mean, my name was all well and good, but that meant nothing without the relationship that connected us. That was the most important thing… wasn’t it?

“She’s my mom,” I told him.

His eyes had gotten a little bigger. “Whoa… you have a kid?”

“Um… yeah.” Mom had nodded, with a self-conscious giggle. “I know what you’re thinking; she’s way too young to have a kid, right?”

The park ranger laughed too. “Totally,” he said. Then he looked back at me. “How old are you?”

“Seven,” I replied.

Mom stepped in between us. “Now, Taylor,” she said. “Go and play.”

“But… I want to stay with you,” I replied, pouting a little.

Mom cocked her head to the side, and she gave me a look that told me she didn’t want to argue with me in public. “Go on,” she said, glaring at me.

I turned and went, dragging my feet behind me, but I could still hear them talking.

“Sorry about that,” I heard Mom say. “She’s not very good at making friends. But I want to encourage her to be a little more outgoing. Otherwise it’s hard for me to have a life, you know.”

“Yeah, of course,” the park ranger had replied.

I found another tree to sit by, one that was out of sight of my mother. I wanted to be able to see her, but I didn’t want her to be able to see me sitting by myself and not making friends. I sat there for a long time feeling hurt and sad. Why did my mother feel like it was okay to talk about me like that to strangers? I didn’t have the vocabulary to fully articulate how I was feeling, but I just knew I didn’t feel good. I knew I wanted my mother to care a little more.

And in the shade of that large tree, an idea came to me. What if I ran away? Of course, I wouldn’t run away for real. I would just go away for long enough to allow my mother to notice and panic and realize how much she loved me and how much she wanted me in her life. Then when I reappeared, she would be so happy and excited that she would spend the rest of the day spending time with me rather than the muscled park ranger.

It was such a brilliant and beautiful plan that I actually got excited about it. I got up and headed into the wooded area behind me. I decided to explore the woods and keep out of sight so that when my mother did finally look for me, she wouldn’t be able to see me.

I spent a long time in the woods, always keeping sight of the lake so that I didn’t get lost. I don’t know how long I stayed where I was… it was probably an hour at most, but in my seven-year-old head, it felt like hours and hours had passed. Satisfied that I had stayed away long enough to sufficiently worry my mother, I headed back towards the lake, towards the tree she had been standing under with the park ranger.

But when I got back to the exact spot, my mother was no longer there. She was gone, and so was the park ranger. I frowned and looked around, and in a cruel twist of fate, my plan backfired on me, and I started to worry about my mother. Where had she gone? Had she left me behind? Maybe I was the one in the wrong place? But when I surveyed my surroundings, I realized that this was the right spot. My mother had disappeared.